Mad man used a fire extinguisher on guests at a hotel on NYE in Hungary

An enraged man set off the fire alarm and used a fire extinguisher on guests at Saliris Hotel in Egerszalók.

The 44-year-old guest from Érd spent New Year’s Eve at the hotel with his girlfriend. The police are conducting an investigation.

Police have arrested the crazy man

It was a full house in the hotel, with about five hundred guests. According to our information, many of the guests started panicking, little children cried and trembled in fear, several adults went into the open air in front of the hotel in their pyjamas or wrapped in blankets.

Bálint Soltész, a spokesman for the Heves County Police Headquarters, confirmed the incident and said that proceedings had been initiated against one of the hotel’s guests. The 44-year-old man from Érd is being investigated for the crime of rioting and vandalism, severely disrupting public order.

A spokesman said the police were alerted around two in the morning about how the mad man was shouting in one of the hotel’s corridors “there is fire, there is fire”.

According to Telex, the hotel’s mad guest then turned on the hotel’s fire alarm system, picked up an extinguisher, and began spraying its contents down the hallway. The man also sprayed it on the guests, and after he could not go back to his room, he kicked in the door.

The mad man was taken to the Eger headquarters by the police who arrived at the scene, where he was interrogated.

The suspect, who confesses to having spent his New Year’s Eve with his girlfriend at the hotel, denied everything, Bálint Soltész told RTL.hu.

The Hotel staff tried their best

Hunguest Hotels confirmed to RTL.hu that the fire brigade and ambulances went to Saliris Hotel due to a false alarm. According to them, after the fire alarm sounded, 10-20 of their colleagues dealt with the management of the guests.

The guests were understandably frightened when the alarm sounded, but they were kept informed of what was happening. The guests had to spend about 15 minutes in front of the building, they were very cooperative, the Hotel added.

They pointed out that Saliris Hotel was not to blame for the incident, but their staff did their best to solve the unexpected problem. The New Year’s Eve party in the hotel lobby had to be interrupted for about 60 minutes, but then the music resumed.